http://vimeo.com/57015378#
Our friends at Barr Foundation produced this 12-minute video. It profiles 3 new Boston schools.

The first is Margarita Muñiz Academy. MMA is a two-way bilingual Spanish-English High School. Shout outs to Meg Campbell and Greg Gunn for helping get this off the ground. If you want to know what 2-way bilingual means, watch the video.

Then there's Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School. I blogged about here in September. Christine, their principal, is married to our middle school principal, Megan. I'm pretty sure I noticed our 2-year-old checking out their almost 2-year-old on Thanksgiving.

Finally the film profiles KIPP Boston. This gives me an excuse to say hey to Fernando and Elysa, hope to see you soon.

[Also a reminder for me to link to a nuanced recent blog by Caleb. It's 14 ways HOW teachers can set high expectations.]

Melinda Marble of Barr Foundation writes:

On its own, each school offers a compelling story – one of vision, mission, and bright hopes for kids. Yet, looked at together, they are also part of a bigger story about breakthroughs in old debates about public education. These schools were all made possible by new education legislation passed in 2010. “An Act Relative to the Achievement Gap” gave Massachusetts districts like Boston new tools for helping struggling schools, and also for expanding their portfolio of choices with new, innovative schools, like Muniz, Dudley, and KIPP Boston.

Since the 2010 act was passed, Barr has dedicated a portion of its education funding to helping schools like these get off to a strong start.

These schools also exemplify a new conversation underway in Boston – one that is flipping the script on the historically chilly relationship between charter and traditional district schools. As Boston’s historic “District-Charter Compact” makes plain, there is a new openness by Boston Public Schools to collaborate in meaningful ways with a wide variety of school operators, including charter, and parochial schools.

I've been involved with Match Education for about 12 years — for seven years as a board member and as CEO since 2011. Before joining Match, I started and ran the Newark Charter School Fund and taught education stuff at Harvard Business School (odd but true). Way back, I was a dot-com entrepreneur. My first job in education, at 23, was as an assistant principal in a catholic school in Harlem.

We do four things here. We run a public K12 charter school in Boston (Match Charter School). We run a graduate school of education that prepares rookie teachers for work in high-need schools (Sposato GSE). We run an alternative college and jobs program for low-income students (Match Beyond). And we share our ideas and practices with the world (Match Export).

Assorted personal facts: I moved to New Jersey from Denmark when I was nine (the Danish part explains my weird name). Upon arrival, I learned English by watching television. I have three brothers. My wife and I have three daughters. The first thing on my mind when I wake up every day is espresso - I really like it. I also watch a lot of soccer on tv. I think it's the greatest sport in the world and a force for world peace.